Now into May – looks like no serious Loire frosts this year

Frost damage in April 2016

Although with fingers still crossed, it looks like there will be no serious frost damage this year. We are now into May and although we are not yet through the Saints de Glace (11th-13th May) the long range forecast for Chenonceaux to Friday 15th May indicates no frost with temperatures not dropping below 8˚C on 6th and 12th. All other nights are forecast to be above this. 

It could have been considerably different as bud break was early – well before the end of March. On 26th and on several nights at the end of march and early April temperatures fell well below freezing but fortunately the ground was very dry and humidity low so damage was avoided obviously assisted by the anti-frost measures many producers have taken individually and collectively especially since the severe frosts of 2016.

With coronavirus knocking wine sales both in France and on export markets a bad frost in 2020 would have been devastating. It would have meant that the Loire had been badly hit by frost in four – 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020 – out of the last five years...... Thankfully we appear to have escaped this year!!    

Now with the current bout of wettish weather there is now the threat of mildew. Better keep those fingers crossed!!

   

Has the Loire escaped spring frosts in 2018?

Anit-frost pots out in the Regional de Cosne 

and du Charitois

While hoping that I am not speaking too soon but it looks as though the Loire has escaped any serious damage from Spring frosts in 2018. Last night and the night before were rather nerve jangling as temperatures dipped. 

However, Laura Semeria of Domaine de Montcy reported that there hadn't been any frost in her domaine in Cheverny, which is prone to frost and where the forecast for Tuesday/Wednesday showed -1˚C. In Ligre (AOP Chinon) Jérôme Billard reported that they had to light to the anti-frost candles at 4am this morning and that they proved effective. 

Initially this coming night – Wednesday/Thursday – was forecast to be tricky but during today the temperatures forecast have risen so the frost risk appears to have gone away with no low temperatures forecast for the coming 10 days or so. 

Even so – we should continue to keep fingers crossed for a while.....      

Tuesday and Wednesday nights – squeaky bum time in Eastern Touraine

 Météo France forecast for Cheverny, whose low lying 

vineyards are frost prone 

Cheverny - 40% possibility of frost 

Tuesday/Wednesday night  

Vignerons in parts of eastern Touraine look to be facing a sleepless couple of nights on Tuesday/Wednesday and Wednesday/Thursday as temperatures drop to close on freezing or just below.

Elsewhere in Loire the forecast is for a little above freezing – fine as long as the forecast is accurate. Tonight's forecast for Vallet shows a low of 2˚C and 0% chance of frost. 2˚C is getting a bit close for comfort – so fingers crossed!   

Loire: increased frost protection – inc report from Chinon

Anti-frost wind turbine at 

Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil

Paulée Nantaise: October 2017

This April will be a particularly stressful month for many Loire producers: a third consecutive frost would be catastrophic for many growers who were hit by frost in both 2016 and 2017. Fortunately, the weather to date in 2018 has been cold, so bud break should be considerably later than it was in 2016 and 2017, so hopefully less worry. However, bud break was late in 2013, which didn't prevent some areas being hit by frost late in April.

Increasingly the Loire is investing in frost protection. This has long been in the case in low lying Quincy, which is very frost prone, with a number of wind turbines as well as other places like Noble Joué and the Clos Roche Blanche in the Cher Valley. Now, however, there is a more of a concerted effort to combat the frost menace. Below there is a press release from Chinon announcing that nearly 50% of areas at risk are now frost protected. Hopefully it will not be too long before all risk areas in the Chinon appellation have some protection. 

In nearby Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil they are also investing in wind turbines in the flatter gravel vineyards – vines on the limestone coteaux are rarely hit by frost. 

In Muscadet, which was hit by frost in both 2016 and 2017, they are using imaginative ways of raising the necessary funds to invest in frost protection, especially wind turbines. A number of growers paired up with local chefs to hold special wine and food events in their restaurants – Paulée Nantaise – with proceeds going to help combating frost.  

Press release from AC Chinon:

'Quatre à cinq jours de lutte contre le gel par an pour sauver une récolte : en 2018, 50% des zones à risque de l'AOC Chinon seront protégées 

La protection contre le gel du vignoble de Chinon s'accélère : en 2018, ce sont près de 50% des zones dites gélives de l'AOC Chinon qui seront protégées, soit 538 hectares sur les 1200 les plus exposés (l'appellation compte au total 2400 hectares en production). Le mode de protection le plus utilisé sur l'appellation reste celui des tours antigel amovibles ou fixes. Si cette lutte ne dure que 4 à 5 jours par an, elle est une épreuve pour tous, dont l'issue heureuse est la préservation des emplois et de l'économie de tout un territoire. 

Les gels de printemps de 2016 et 2017 ont été un coup dur pour l'appellation Chinon, réduisant de moitié le rendement moyen par hectare en 2016 et d'un quart en 2017. Une perte estimée à 25 millions d'euros au total sur les deux années pour les 181 vignerons que compte l'appellation, à laquelle ils ont pu faire face grâce au stock de bouteilles qu'ils avaient conservé. 

Les vignerons connaissent régulièrement des aléas climatiques mais il est rare d'enchainer deux années consécutives de gel intensif. Aussi, ils se sont organisés pour expérimenter plusieurs procédés de lutte, à l'image de la CUMA de Cravant Les Côteaux laquelle, après le gel de 1991 et 1994, avait mis des moyens en commun pour investir dans les tours antigel ou tours à brassage d'air. Fabrice Gasnier, Président de la CUMA de Cravant Les Coteaux met à présent son expérience à profit au Syndicat des vins de Chinon, où il est administrateur en charge du lourd dossier "aléas climatiques". Le Syndicat a d'ailleurs commandé une étude sur l'aspersion dont les premiers résultats seront connus au premier semestre 2018.

Les moyens de protection
Aujourd'hui, quatre moyens de lutte contre le gel existent sur le vignoble : l'aspersion, les tours antigel, les bougies et les frostguard (sorte de chauffage que l'on peut déplacer). Le mode de protection le plus utilisé sur l'appellation reste celui des tours antigel. Des moyens de lutte coûteux - pour exemple, une tour avec son installation complète coûte en moyenne 42 000 euros - pour seulement quelques jours d'utilisation dans l'année... mais qui peuvent sauver une récolte et faire toute la différence !

Le brassage de l'air avec les tours
Mélanger l'air froid situé au niveau des bourgeons avec l'air plus chaud présent en altitude permet de protéger une surface de vignes d'environ 5 à 6 hectares si la température ne descend pas au dessous de - 4°C. Les tours fixes ou amovibles fonctionnent comme un ventilateur géant avec des pales en action et sont particulièrement efficaces en cas de gelées blanches. 

Le gel ... contre le gel, la protection par l'aspersion
Cela peut paraître contradictoire mais l'aspersion c'est à dire le principe qui consiste à envoyer de l'eau sur les vignes avec un système de brumisateur, crée un phénomène de protection contre le gel : quand l’eau gèle, le changement de phase liquide en phase solide est une transition exothermique. L’eau qui se transforme en glace libère donc des calories qui vont protéger ce qui est en dessous, à savoir les bourgeons. Il faut ensuite maintenir l’arrosage en continu, jusqu’à ce que la température remonte au dessus de +3°C. 

Chauffer les vignes avec des bougies ou des frostguard
L'une des plus vieilles traditions de lutte contre le gel est l'installation de bougies au pied des ceps postées à intervalles réguliers, ou bien une sorte de chauffage que l'on fait circuler entre les rangs de vignes en période de gelées pour gagner 2 ou 3°C 

A noter : Pour informer les riverains sur les moyens de lutte contre le gel, des réunions publiques d'information vont être organisées sur plusieurs secteurs de l'appellation : Cravant le 27 mars à 18h30 et Panzoult le 29 mars à 18h30 et Chinon le 3 avril.' 

Fingers crossed for a frost-free 2018.  

Bedouet Vigneron: organic Muscadet producer crowdfunds to fight back against the frost

Can you help please? 

Hit by spring frosts in both 2016 and 2107 Michel and Antonin Bedouet, organic Muscadet producers in Le Pallet, are fighting back against the frost. Bedouet Vigneron is a family domaine that has passed down through the generations. Michel Bedouet took over from his father in 1985 and two years ago Michel's son – 25-year-old Antonin – started to work with him. 

Badly hit by April frosts two years running the Bedouets are very keen to install an anti-frost system to protect their vines. They are planning to use an electirc cable system invented in the 1990s by a local electrician Jean-Pierre Heurteau. Heurteau comes from nearby Monnières and is now retired. 

To date Heurteau's system is not widely used: 3or 4 hectares in Muscadet and elsewhere 15 ha in Champagne and Chablis. The electric current starts when the temperature falls and is said to be effective to – 3˚C. Apparently it has worked down to -6˚C in Champagne. Heurteau explains that where his cable system was installed a producer enjoyed a yield of 62 hl/ha, whereas rows not protected only produced 18 hl/ha.   

Apart from installation, the cost of running the cable system is between 30€ to 50€ per hectare per night. If it is effective this is a small cost. In contrast using low flying helicopters to stir up the air will cost around 1200€ an hour.  

The Bedouets have chosen to crowdfund their anti-frost project through Miimosa, which is a French specialist platform to raise finance for agricultural projects. 

All subscribers to the Bedouets' project will receive rewards depending on how much they donate. These range from 10€ where your name will appear on a plaque in their cellar through to 500€. Details are here. 

 

Please make a contribution to their fund. If we want small family producers who are the lifeblood of the diversity of the Loire to survive they are going to need frost protection.  

Quelques détails en français:    

Bedouet Vigneron est une entreprise familiale dans laquelle chaque génération apporte sa pierre à l'édifice.

Michel, 57 ans a pris la suite de son père en 1985 et Antonin, 25 ans, fils de Michel travaille avec lui depuis deux ans.

Notre vignoble est conduit en agriculture biologique, il a été sévèrement touché par le gel de printemps, deux années consécutives. C'est aujourd'hui primordial de mettre en place une protection durable contre ce phénomène climatique qui remet en cause la pérennité de l'entreprise.

En effet, Antonin souhaite s'installer et cet investissement est précieux pour sécuriser son avenir professionnel.

Lire la suite ici

2017 Loire vintage: Muscadet – pickers in action: Bonnet-Huteau: 12th September

Late yesterday afternoon we dropped in to see Rémi and Jean-Jacques Bonnet (Domaine Bonnet-Huteau in the commune of La Chapelle-Heulin. Unfortunately they were badly affected by the late April frosts this year. Apart from greatly reducing the crop it has also made picking difficult due to the marked variation in grape maturity between those bunches not affected by the frost and those that were frosted so any fruit is second generation – inevitably less ripe than the first generation bunches.  

Jean-Jacques was entertaining a couple of Dutch journalists – Esme and Roland. We caught up with JJ and Rémi in a parcel of vines close to the chai where the day's picking was concluding.

Fashionable head gear – happy picker 

anticipating the looming pause 

Marie, who is doing a stage at Bonnet-Huteau, 

has clearly enjoyed her first day picking

Rémi Bonnet 

Jean-Jacques Bonnet being interviewed 

by the Dutch journalists 

Loire suffers serious and widespread frost damage on 27th April

La nature est parfois difficile avec ceux qui pour autant l'aime encore.
Exemple confirmée à La Charpenterie.

Photo by 

Sabrina Cyprien Caslot-Bourdin

Near La Chapelle-sur-Loire 

(Photo taken from a post by Sabrina Cyprien Caslot-Bourdin.

I hope my use of her very sad photo will be acceptable.) 

This is a further round up of news of the serious frost during the night of Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th April. A shorter version was published in decanter.com on Friday. 

Parts of the Loire were very severely hit by frost during the night of Tuesday 26^th and Wednesday 27^th.  Temperatures in a few places fell as low as – 6˚C.

As in April 1991 a lethal combination of damp ground from recent rain, clear overnight skies, very low temperatures in the latter part of the night followed by bright early morning sunshine has virtually destroyed the 2016 vintage in some sectors of the Loire.

Although it is too early to know the full extent of the damage some parts of the Loire have been very badly hit. The worst hit areas appear to be Bourgueil, Montlouis, Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil, Azay le Rideau and Touraine Noble. The important communes of Cravant-les-Coteaux and Panzoult in AOP Chinon are reported also badly affected. 

 

Couly Dutheil, whose vines are mostly in the more western part of the Chinon appellation, reports that 20 hectares of their 90 are affected. In Ligré Jérôme Billard (Domaine de la Noblaie) finds that 20% of his vines have been affected by the frost. Mainly those less good parcels parcels that Jérôme reserves for his rosé. Here the damage is as high as 60%, while in his best parcels of Cabernet Franc for his reds only 10% of the vines appear to have been hit.   

Guillaume Lapaque, director of FAV37*, told Decanter: “Noble Joué has lost 94% of this harvest, 70% in Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil and 50% in Chinon. Overall Appellation Touraine has been much less affected.”

Sabine Corsin, Syndicat de Montlouis reported a 90% loss in Saint-Martin-le-Beau with 50% loss in the appellation’s other two communes. Losses in Vouvray are reported to be less overall and more variable. 

Jacky Blot (Domaine de la Taille aux Loups – Montlouis, Vouvray) expects to make 25% of normal if all goes well from here. In contrast the outlook is more optimistic for his Domaine de la Butte (Bourgueil). Here the loss is 20% essentially Pied de la Butte on the flatter ground. The rest of the vines on the steep slope are intact.      

In Saumur-Champigny the communes of Chacé, Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg and Varrains have been badly hit. Closer to the Loire damage is much less. “We have lost 10%,” said Florence Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve).  

“We have been very badly hit in our vineyards which are close to the River Layon,” said Emmanuel Ogereau (Domaine Ogereau, Anjou). However, we have no damage in Savennières where our vines are on high ground.”

The picture in the Pays Nantais appears to be very variable. Domaine Luneau-Papin (Muscadet) has suffered damage in some parcels, while others haven’t been touched.

“A third of my vines have been badly hit with up to 100% loss in some parcels, one third slightly affected and one third not touched at all,” said Vincent Caillé, Domaine Faye d’Homme (Muscadet). However, fans of Vincent and Christelle Guibert's Terre d'Gneiss will be relieved that this boutique parcel was spared. 

In the Central Loire Vineyards Benoît Roumet, the director of Les Vins du Centre, reports that Menetou-Salon, Pouilly-Fumé, Quincy and Reuilly have all been hit to a greater of lesser degree. Sancerre, in contrast, has largely escaped. However, Roumet cautions that things will be clearer next week. 

Although this April frost may not be as extensive as that of 1991, wine stocks would have been much higher after the very good and generous 1990 vintage. Now stocks are low after four small to below average vintages. On top of that you have to factor in the current annual loss from esca, which was not a factor back in 1991. Esca is not only one of the reasons why yields are lower than expected but there is also the constant cost of replacing dead vines. 

Negotiations with government and banks to help to see badly hit producers through this crisis will start next week. 

Photo from Pierre & Bertrand Couly

Le Gel! Frost! Squeaky bum time!

29th March: frost@8.30am

Overnight frost! At 8.30 am the ground was still white in places. Not sure how severe the frost was but we have bright sunshine this morning always the lethal combination as ice around the delicate buds acts as a magnifying glass and burns them. At midnight last night the temperature had dropped to 3˚ and the sky was clear with a stunning array of stars. Apparently overnight the temperature went as low as minus 3˚.

29th March: frost@8.30am

Hopefully the vines in this part of Touraine will be OK as the buds haven't started but other fruit trees are now in blossom so they may be affected. Further west the vines are more advanced, so if they had frost too there could be some damage. Muscadet, in particular cannot afford another frost this year following last year's devastating one.

Unfortunately frost is forecast again for tonight. As Sir Alex Ferguson has famously said: "It's squeaky bum time!"